: Our Sharean the India 


Young Womens Chnistian Association 


City | 
Student - 


Vernacular 


Bombay, Calcutta, Colombo, Madras, Singapore 


Nationa! Board of Young Womens Christian Associations 
600 Lexington Avenue, New York City 
September, 1914 


INDIA 


@ India has nine American secretaries. Five secretaries 


with their outfits and journeys are needed in India this): 


present year. 


Traveling secretaries for city, student and vernacular _ 
work must be supplied to India. 


The vernacular work (Gn the Indian dialects) is 
growing in importance and will increasingly demand 
supervision. 


Industrial employment of Indian women is begun in 
Bombay. It is growing rapidly in other ports. The 
Association in India has begun work in the mills. 


@ The education of Indian women has been neglected _ 
until recently, the government having opened some 
elementary schools for women. The number in higher 
institutions is less than five hundred, and these women _ 


who will take such large share in the moulding of In- 
dian womanhood may to-day be reached he Chu, or 
through the Association. ch 


The student Young Wanner 3 Christian Aisa th 
provides hotels for the residence of Indian and Anglo- i 
Indian students. This department is developed in — 
most of the cities of India where the rn Assso- a 
ciation works. 


Calcutta is to-day without a pe Its hades “t 
membership numbers four hundred and five. 3 


The one available student secretary was transfered 


to Madras because a new siudent hostel had been 
- opened by the goverment on condition that an associ- 
ation secretary be in charge. 


~@ India is a British possession with 312,000,000 
people, of whom less than 4,000,000 are Christians. 
It has a relatively small European population which 
includes thousands of Anglo-Indians, in whose 
veins runs some of the best blood of their English an- 
-cestry. Socially nothing has been expected of these 
young women and while nominally Christian, their op- 
portunities for development have been very limited. 
The government has been slowly recognizing its ne- 
‘glect and has been opening to them posts as steno- 
graphers, teachers and nurses. 


In the cities the Young Women’s Christian Asso- 
ciation is the most adaptable agency for the care of 
these young women. The government co-operates in 
providing Association buildings and boarding homes 
for Anglo-Indian young women. Their general Asso- 
ciation activities are similar to those of the Association 
ja America. 


